Skimmer/return not working on filter setting

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L

lbridenstine

0
Oct 18, 2016
19
Kalamazoo, MI
This is my first year opening a pool. I got the house and pool at the end of last summer and used info from TFP to close it. I opened the pool and I seem to have the pump primed, but nothing is happening with the skimmer or return when the pump is running in "Filter" mode. The pump is full of water, the water is moving in there, but nothing is happening out in the pool.

I tried changing it to Recirculate to see if anything happened and the skimmer and return work perfectly fine when set to Recirculate.

Any thoughts on what I might have done wrong?
 
I cleaned the filter when I closed the pool last fall, so I don't think it should be that dirty. When I poured the DE slurry in the skimmer it took it in, but slowly. The water is really dirty from the debris that was on top of the pool cover getting in the pool when we uncovered it, so I guess it's possible it got clogged up. I'll try backwashing soon. I most likely won't have time today. Should I use a skimmer sock and set it to recirculate until I can backwash?

I'll check the psi when I come home for lunch.

I didn't know that the filters could freeze/crush. I left the drain plug out all winter so water could drain out if needed. The filter is inside the garage.
 
If it was empty then the filters aren't crushed.

If there was a lot of debris, you could have something stuck anywhere between the multiport and the filters, inclusive. Try a backwash first. It wouldn't take much -- a piece of tanback could be stuck inside the filter passage inside the multiport or anywhere in one of the manifolds.
 
I backwashed it and the psi went down to 21, which is where the previous owners had it marked as the number it runs at when it's clean. Everything did work, so I guess it was either clogged or really got that dirty that quick. I poured in some more DE, put the pool robot in the pool, skimmed for a while to get the bugs and stuff that I could catch before it got to the skimmer. After a couple hours the psi is already back up to 25 and the suction/flow seems low. Is this normal for spring opening? Like I said, the water is really dirty. I'm going to run out of DE quick if I have to keep backwashing constantly.
 
What is the color of the water?
Are you following the SLAM Process process?

One option is to just run in Recirculate mode until you have killed off most of the algae (pool will turn from green to white) and then start with the monotonous filter/backwash dance to clear up the water.
 

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Richard320 said:
Yes, normal,

DE filters work really good and as a result, load up really fast. Once the pool is clear, it should go weeks if not months between backwashes as long as you keep the chemicals in line.
Click to expand...

Alright. Yeah, the only time I had to do it last year was when I was closing the pool.

I'll keep backwashing.

jblizzle said:
What is the color of the water?
Are you following the SLAM Process process?

One option is to just run in Recirculate mode until you have killed off most of the algae (pool will turn from green to white) and then start with the monotonous filter/backwash dance to clear up the water.
Click to expand...

The water is blue, but not clear. Most of the dirtiness is at the bottom, but some of it is suspended in the water. It's mostly brown stuff that came from the trees (not sure what to call it) sitting on the bottom. It broke up in the water, so if I try to scoop it out, it just floats up into a dirty cloud. I'm trying to get the robot to pick it up and it's getting a little each day, but it's taking a while.
 
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